Am I the only cruel person...

H

Halfstep

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who makes their field kept horse get up in the morning when he's lying down, to reassure myself that he still has four working legs?

He obviously wanted a snooze today but I was insistent that he get up and demonstrate that his legs were in working order! I promptly felt like the meanest person in the world. Poor horse.
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So am I totally insanely paranoid, or just sensible?
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Sensible-of course!

If Vogue is sleeping and not getting up at the sound of me calling her etc I walk all round her clapping my hands etc..If I'm at home then I'll keep an eye on her, but if I'm going out or anything then I'll even go as far as pulling her front legs out and rocking her until she stands (she's a very laid back lady lol) *blush*
 
SENSIBLE !!

I do it all the time to the horses in the field with Sol (one is prone to lami so he always gets a prod)

Sol frightened the life out of me a week or so ago when she was lay down , saw me and tried to get up on 3 legs , got up and hopped off (still on 3 legs!)
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I pegged it over to see what limb was hanging off and she just had a dead leg as she'd been lay on it
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I wish the gang would stay where they are in the morning, at the sound of the gate they jump up and charge towards us expecting their morning feed i would be worried if they didnt get up so i guess i would poke they until they stood up., not cruel just concerned!
 
Glad its not just me! But my god the look of sheer horror that I got when I told him it was time to get up! "Are you insane woman, its 6.15am and I've been up in the rain all bloody night, leave me alone!". I even managed to put his fly mask on and some sudocreme on a cut on his leg while lying down.

Poor horse now knows I'm put on this earth to plague him
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Yep cruel! lol I have done it on the odd occasion if I know they have a problem (although Jake can't get up very well so it's best to leave him even though he's a bit of a cripple and let him get up in his own time) Saying that we're on a busy trust property and boy are the visitors quick to notice a "problem" (like one of the horses being blindfolded.... or wearing a fly mask maybe.....)
 
I don't wake any up here on the yard - the benefit of living here is that I watch them all and see them lying down (the full dead horse look!) all the time so I would recognise if there was something wrong or different about the way they were sleeping/lying. All the horses here have a morning nap between 9 - 11 everyday so I just look for twitiching ears,muzzles or hooves!!
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I'm am so lucky to be able to watch them just hanging out - I know there field habits better than their owners!!
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I don't always make Monty get up, since he is geriatric and likes a good snooze. However, I know his sleeping pattern and if he is napping at an unusual time I do. I always feel a bit bad since he is old and creaky and it is such an effort for him to get up but it's better to be safe than sorry!
 
As I live here I look out on them from my bedroom, there is one livery mare who lies like a dead horse, flat out head thrown back and at first i would be convinced something has happened. Now I just accept that Coral lies like that for at least 5 separate sleeps a day. Some days it looks like we have had a massacre with 16 horses lying flat out in the fields all as close to the others as possible. And they are all so relaxed I can just walk through them without them bothering to get up. In fact the geldings will stay lying down when I take the tractor in and poo vac the fields round them.
 
That's interesting because I have noticed mine always lie down between 9 and 11 am
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I have mine at home as well and feel really mean making them get up if I want to go for a ride. But not that mean
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I only tried this once -to ride though not to check on him. The b***er let me know of his dipleasure by biting me on the boob! .....I screamed, then walloped him. He's never tried it again - but then i've never tried waking him up again! I think he won that battle
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Nope, not the only one. It can take a fair effort to raise my old boy from a deep sleep though. He was laid flat out with a bird perched on the side of his head once - I honestly thought he was dead and the bird was pecking his eyes out, until I got a bit closer and heard him grunting away in his sleep
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Mines another that likes a snooze beetween 9 and 11 so between those times I leave her alone, she does the dead horse impression really well and I've had several anxious people running across the field to her, convinced she's popped her clogs!

That said, if she was not at the gate first thing in the morning waiting for brekkie and calling to us like she was starved..... I'd be poking and prodding till she got up!
 
I only make them get up if there appears to be anything wrong, you can usually tell from how they are lying and looking.
 
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